By Tim McKeel, Lancaster Online
Manheim businessman T.J. Mousetis sees the advantages that Lititz Borough and Lancaster city get from their bustling downtowns.
The entrepreneurs. The investments. The visitors. The customers. The creativity. The energy. The buzz.
And if Lititz and Lancaster can reap those benefits, Mousetis wonders, why not Manheim?
To help spur that activity in Manheim, Mousetis and three partners are investing $1.55 million to convert a vacant industrial building into a co-working space and business incubator.
They’ve dubbed the building Supply.
“It all started with a desire to see Manheim come into some of the revitalization that other parts of Lancaster County are seeing, like downtown Lancaster and Lititz,” said Mousetis.
“We’ve lived here for seven years. We love this town. We think other people will love it too. They just might not know about it,” he added.
Mousetis and his wife Brooke are the founders of Walk in Love, which makes T-shirts with Christian and inspirational messages and sells them via its website.
Joining them as partners are Bryan and Heather Zeamer. Bryan Zeamer is president of Utility Keystone Trailer on Auction Road in Rapho Township, which adjoins the borough. Heather Zeamer is an author and homemaker.
Borough Manager James R. Fisher was enthusiastic about the facility and its potential impact.
“It sounds like a great thing for the borough,” he said.
Part of former Raybestos site
Supply will be developed in the former Kaps Recon Center building at 280 S. Oak St., in the southeast corner of the borough near the Clair Companies’ building.
The 18,000-square-foot building was constructed in 1952, according to real estate listings, by Raybestos-Manhattan.
In there, the company made thin-wall tubing that carried hydraulic fluid in aircraft and other machines, said John Blanck of the Manheim Area Historical Society.
The company also used the building to make Vee-Flex packing for industrial valves, according to Blanck. A successor firm, Universal Friction, closed the doors in 1998.
Kaps Recon reopened the building in 2001 and operated there until earlier this year, courthouse records indicate.
Scenic Ridge Construction is handling the renovations to transform the idle space into Supply. An April opening is planned.
“It’s going to be a very welcoming building, very modern,” said Bryan Zeamer.
The partners, as Baron Nation LLC, bought the site from Minneapolis investors for $450,000, according to courthouse records filed this month. Scott D. Bradbury of U.S. Commercial Realty handled the transaction.
Walk in Love, with four employees, will move to 2,000 square feet from its space in another former Raymark building at 148 E. Stiegel St., purchased this summer by IDenticard.
Men of Iron, a nonprofit launched by Bryan Zeamer to equip men to be Godly leaders in their communities, will move from the Auction Road property to 1,000 square feet in Supply. It has four employees too.
Supply also will have a photo studio, conference rooms, event space, eight “fixed” office spaces for people who want a defined area and Manheim’s first co-working space.
Co-working space is shared by small-business owners, remote workers, students, freelancers and professionals. For a fee, users get not just space to work but a place to meet, network, collaborate and socialize.
The name Supply comes from the partners’ hope that their facility “supplies” inspiration, support, camaraderie, ideas and economic growth for the borough.
Those qualities would have come in handy during the seven years that the Mousetises had a wedding-photography business, said T.J. Mousetis.
“One thing we wish we had more of when we were doing that were people to bounce ideas off of,” he said.
Tied by T-shirts
The Zeamers and the Mousetises met when Walk in Love made T-shirts for a Men of Iron fundraiser two years ago. Other connections were quickly discovered, including a few that went back years.
Brooke Mousetis went to Manheim Central High School with Heather Zeamer’s younger brother, Garret Barbush.
And Garret Barbush and T.J. Mousetis knew each other through high school wrestling — Barbush at Manheim Central and Mousetis at Manheim Township (in different weight classes, though).
About a year ago, T.J. Mousetis was discussing his vision for an incubator and co-working space with Barbush, and mentioned the available building on South Oak Street.
“I made a joke to Garret about helping me pay for the building,” said T.J. Mousetis. Barbush wasn’t in a position to pitch in, but he mentioned the idea to Bryan Zeamer, who was intrigued.
The Zeamers and Mousetises got together and found common ground instantly.
“That’s how it all started,” said Bryan Zeamer. “We said, ‘How can we help you with that? We want to help the community and be a part of it.’”
Now they are, developing a facility that they envision adding a spark of economic energy to Manheim Borough.
“We hope it’s a catalyst for new things coming into Manheim,” said Mousetis. “Manheim is a great town. We love it. We know Lititz is at the top of the list. It’s ‘The Coolest Small Town in America.’
“We think Manheim is just as cool.”